Method of displaying axes in an axis-based interface

ABSTRACT

A method, device, interface and systems thereof is hereby presented to facilitate interactions between sets of attributes and axes of computer-readable elements with corresponding graphical arrangements of associated documents. Interactions are generally facilitated through an interaction tool having input and output capabilities. Documents can be classified by associating documents with an interaction element from the interaction tool. Conversely, selecting an interaction element is used as a basis to display documents corresponding to the attributes associated with the selected interaction element.

CROSS-REFERENCES

The present application is a continuing application of and claimspriority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/841,983, filed Mar.15, 2013, entitled MULTI-FUNCTION AXIS-BASED INTERFACE, which is anon-provisional of, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to, U.S.provisional patent application No. 61/658,619, filed Jun. 12, 2012,entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISPLAYING, USING AND SHARING DATA ONAXES, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.Any publication of and any patent issuing from the foregoing U.S. patentapplications is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to computer systems adapted to manageinformation elements disposed on arrays and axes thereof in conjunctionwith another data representation element. The present invention morespecifically relates to methods and apparatuses for displaying,organizing and navigating among information elements disposed in arraysand axes thereof in conjunction with a means to access and use thearrays and axes.

2. Description of the Related Art

Projects are generating documents and these documents should be managedin the most efficient way possible. Ordering and classifying documentsin a classification structure takes significant time and can be complex.A likelihood of confusion remains present as how the classificationstructure is going to be interpreted by each person classifying thedocuments. Despite the improvement of computers having sensitivedocuments ordered in a comprehensive fashion remains a challenge.

Projects have a significant number of documents associated therewith. Aproject can be divided into different phases or the like. Some projectscan follow a precise workflow further detailing steps of the project.For instance, a workflow can include various interactions of phases,events, tasks, notes, bring forward (BF), among others. This moredetailed type of project document management increases the level ofcomplexity for a user.

Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are becoming more and more graphicallyrich in displaying documents, icons and other information elements.Today's lists of documents are turning progressively into highlygraphical sequences of documents from which users can attain greatermeaning and purpose than before. This is due primarily to the fact thatmodern GUIs display graphically complex thumbnails, icons and filepreviews; large number of documents and highly customized ordering ofsequences in which the objects displayed are presented.

A sequence of documents may be presented in arrays of various forms,such as an axis, a group of axes or a matrix. In a related fashion, anaxis or an array can contain documents that display various degrees ofrelevance to a user based on the attributes associated with eachdocument or group thereof. Documents, in general, can be unevenlydistributed in an array in dependence of the manner in which they areinitially organized in the respective array. Finding the documents, froman array, that are deemed relevant by the user may, therefore, bedifficult or even confusing when few or no relevant documents appear inthe display area.

It is therefore desirable to provide proper indications and meansadapted for the navigation of an array of documents in relation with apredetermined classification structure or workflow process over theexisting art. It is also desirable to indicate to a user, which part ofan array relates to which portion of a classification structure orworkflow. It is equally desirable to display an array, an axis or aportion thereof, in graphical relationship a specific classificationstructure or with respective steps of a workflow.

It is also desirable to provide indications and means for efficientlynavigating an axis, row or column of an array of documents inrelationship with steps of a workflow. It is also desirable to providean improved method for simultaneously navigating steps of a workflowprocess (or workflow entries) and documents corresponding to respectivesteps of the workflow process.

It is yet also desirable to provide a method and system adapted to findand navigate documents deemed relevant to a portion of a workflow by auser when such documents are located on an axis, row or column of adisplay.

It is desirable to provide a means to simply categorize documents andretrieve categorized documents with a unified interaction element.

It is also desirable to categorize documents by an interaction betweendocuments with a categorization element representing a preformattedcategorization where the documents are going to acquire thecategorization of the categorization element.

Other deficiencies will become apparent to one skilled in the art towhich the invention pertains in view of the following summary anddetailed description with its appended figures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the present invention is to alleviate one or more of theshortcomings of the background art by addressing one or more of theexisting needs in the art.

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is notintended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or todelineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to presentsome concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to themore detailed description that is presented later.

At least a portion of the invention is generally described as a method,a system, a device and/or a graphical user interface used to representmultiple computer files, documents, or other data on axes in anaxis-based graphical user interface (GUI).

Aspects of our work provide a method and system allowing a user toefficiently navigate arrays of documents, or a portion thereof, inconjunction with a predetermined workflow.

At least one aspect of our work, and according to at least oneembodiment thereof, an interaction element is used to classify documentsand retrieve classified documents in simple fashion. The interactionelement can be embodied as a status bar, menu bar, identification ofparts of a workflow process, docket entries, steps of a workflow processand the like. The interaction element can be used for locating an axistherefrom, extending therefrom and providing information regarding thenature of the displayed documents along an axis.

One aspect of the instant invention provides, and according to at leastone embodiment thereof, a method, an apparatus and a graphical userinterface adapted to present arrays of documents as a single axis, row,or column or a plurality thereof, associated with a particular step of aworkflow.

Moreover, one other aspect of the instant invention, and according to atleast one embodiment thereof, provides a method, an apparatus and agraphical user interface adapted to present arrays of documents ofvarious degrees of relevance to steps of a workflow.

An aspect of the instant invention, according to at least one embodimentthereof, provides a method, an apparatus and a graphical user interfaceadapted to display a series of steps of a workflow and wherein steps canbe spaced apart to insert an axis of documents relevant to the anadjacent step of the workflow to identify which documents are related tothe adjacent step.

An aspect of the instant invention, according to at least one embodimentthereof, provides a method, an apparatus and a graphical user interfaceadapted to display a series of steps of a workflow in a first directionand wherein steps can be spaced apart to orthogonally insert an axis ofdocuments relevant to the an adjacent step of the workflow to identifywhich documents are related to the adjacent step.

In one aspect of the instant invention, according to at least oneembodiment thereof, documents of many steps of a workflow are displayedalong an axis of document and documents thereof relevant to a specificstep of the workflow are visually discriminated from documents relevantto other steps of the workflow.

Another aspect of the present invention, according to at least oneembodiment thereof, provides a mechanism adapted to display documentsassociated with a workflow on the axis, row or column that is parallellyor perpendicularly displayed in respect with an axis representing aseries of steps in a workflow.

Another aspect of the present invention, according to at least oneembodiment thereof, provides a mechanism adapted to allow furtherdiscrimination among documents related to a particular step of aworkflow, discrimination being made, for instance, on a basis ofattributes and being graphically reflected through, for example, theapplication of visually distinctive features applied to documents ordividing of relevant documents among more than one axis related to aspecific step of a workflow process.

A further aspect of the instant invention, according to at least oneembodiment thereof, provides a mechanism adapted to locate documentsrelated to a workflow in relation with a collation function; a preferredbut not restrictive collation function being a chronological ordering.

In another aspect of the instant invention, according to at least oneembodiment thereof, a feature is provided for systematically associatingdocuments relevant to each docket entry of a legal matter.

In one other aspect of the present invention, according to at least oneembodiment thereof, a mechanism is provided adapted to move the axis ofdocuments directly to a document thereon relevant to a specific step ofa workflow when the step of a workflow if selected.

In yet another aspect of the instant invention, according to at leastone embodiment thereof, a method is provided for indicating to a userthe presence, the number and location of documents deemed relevant in astep of a workflow when the documents contained in an array of documentsbear a plurality of attributes possibly designating a plurality of stepsof a workflow.

In one other aspect of the invention, according to at least oneembodiment thereof, a mechanism is provided to enable filterednavigational capability to documents associated with a workflow atspecific and predetermined positions within an array of documentsaccording to a query specifying a portion of the workflow for relevance.

In another aspect of the invention, according to at least one embodimentthereof, a mechanism is provided to enable direct navigation of an axis,row, column or group of axes to associated steps of a workflow.

In one aspect of the instant invention, according to at least oneembodiment thereof, a mechanism is provided for changing axes ofdocuments relevant to distinct steps of a workflow upon selection of astep. Graphical identifications of steps can be spaced apart to allowdisplay of the relevant axis.

In one other aspect of the instant invention, according to at least oneembodiment thereof, a mechanism is provided to reach and displaydocuments relevant to a specific step of a workflow that are located ata specific and predetermined location of an axis, row, or column thatmight not be readily visible.

Embodiments of the subject invention can be embodied as a computersystem, a method, an operating system and a graphical user interfaceadapted to manage data and documents by juxtaposing the data on axes ofdocuments in a manner such that data, documents and axes thereof areparametrizable and usable by a plurality of users and can be displayedaccording to a selection of a step of a workflow, metadata or attributesas deemed relevant by user or users in a single-user or networkedenvironment.

Another aspect of our work provides, according to at least oneembodiment thereof, an object-oriented computing system. The computingsystem comprises a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and aninterface. The computer system comprises a computer-readable storagemedium storing instructions, such as a software program adapted to carryout the embodiments. The instructions that, when executed, provide aprocessor-based system the steps to modify the type and quantity ofinformation used to build and display a document, axis, group of axesand/or workspace on a variety of devices including but not limited tocomputers, mobiles phones or tablets.

In another aspect of our work, a graphical user interface is provided.The graphical user interface displays one or more axes of documents inaccordance with the implementation of a method that manages documentsand the data associated therewith.

Embodiments of the present invention can have at least one of theabove-mentioned objects and/or aspects, but does not necessarily haveall of them. It should be understood that some aspects of the presentinvention that have resulted from attempting to attain theabove-mentioned objects may not satisfy these objects and/or may satisfyother objects not specifically recited herein.

Additional and/or alternative features, aspects, and advantages ofembodiments of the present invention will become apparent from thefollowing description, the accompanying drawings, and the appendedclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary network;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an alternate exemplary network;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary computer system;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary software system;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of an axis-based interface andoperating system;

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary axis layout;

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of a linear and non-linear axisconfigurations;

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary table of docketentries in accordance with an embodiment of at least one embodiment thepresent invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary table of docketentries in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary table of docketentries and an axis in accordance with at least one embodiment thepresent invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and an axis in accordance with at least one embodiment thepresent invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 15 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and the navigation within an axis in accordance with at leastone embodiment the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and an axis in accordance with at least one embodiment thepresent invention;

FIG. 17 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and the navigation within an axis in accordance with at leastone embodiment the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a schematic illustration an exemplary list of workflowentries and an axis in accordance with at least one embodiment thepresent invention;

FIG. 19 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and a selection of related information elements within an axisin accordance with at least one embodiment the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and a plurality of selections of related information elementswithin an axis in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 21 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and an axis in accordance with at least one embodiment thepresent invention;

FIG. 22 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and a plurality of axes in accordance with at least oneembodiment the present invention;

FIG. 23 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and an axis in accordance with at least one embodiment thepresent invention;

FIG. 24 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and an axis in accordance with at least one embodiment thepresent invention;

FIG. 25 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and an axis in accordance with at least one embodiment thepresent invention;

FIG. 26 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and an axis in accordance with at least one embodiment thepresent invention;

FIG. 27 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and an axis in accordance with at least one embodiment thepresent invention;

FIG. 28 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries, a sub lists of docket entries and an axis in accordance with atleast one embodiment the present invention;

FIG. 29 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and a plurality of axes in accordance with at least oneembodiment the present invention;

FIG. 30 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries, a plurality of axes and Visual Distinctive Features applied oninformation elements within the axes in accordance with at least oneembodiment the present invention;

FIG. 31 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and a plurality of axes in accordance with at least oneembodiment the present invention;

FIG. 32 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and information elements being inserted in a specific workflowentry in accordance with at least one embodiment the present invention;

FIG. 33 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary list of workflowentries and an axis in accordance with at least one embodiment thepresent invention;

FIG. 34 is a schematic illustration of information elements beinginserted at different location of the interaction tool in accordancewith at least one embodiment the present invention;

FIG. 35 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary a various locationsfor interaction tools in accordance with at least one embodiment thepresent invention;

FIG. 36 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool in accordancewith at least one embodiment the present invention;

FIG. 37 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool in accordancewith at least one embodiment the present invention;

FIG. 38 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool and aplurality of axes in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 39 is a schematic illustration of a plurality of interaction toolsin accordance with at least one embodiment the present invention;

FIG. 40 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool and aplurality of axes in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 41 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool and an axisin accordance with at least one embodiment the present invention;

FIG. 42 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool and a groupof axes in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 43 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool and aplurality of groups of axes in accordance with at least one embodimentthe present invention;

FIG. 44 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool and aplurality of axes in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 45 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool and aplurality of axes in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 46 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool and aplurality of axes in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 47 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool and aplurality of axes in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 48 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool and aplurality of axes in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 49 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool and aplurality of axes in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 50 is a schematic illustration of an interaction tool and aplurality of axes in accordance with at least one embodiment the presentinvention;

FIG. 51 is a schematic illustration of a multi-faces interaction tool inaccordance with at least one embodiment the present invention;

FIG. 52 is a workflow describing of a use case of at least oneembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 53 is a workflow describing of a use case of at least oneembodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S) OF THE INVENTION

Our work is now described with reference to the figures. In thefollowing description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofthe present invention by way of embodiment(s). It may be evident,however, that the present invention may be practiced without thesespecific details. In other instances, when applicable, well-knownstructures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order tofacilitate describing the present invention.

The features provided in this specification mainly but might notexclusively relate to principles of computer software andmachine-readable code/instructions adapted to instruct a computer, manycomputers or other machines adapted to use the instructions to providematerial effects on a display, or other means enabling human-computerinteractions to manage documents, menus, user-selectable elements andother computer files. These code/instructions are preferably stored on amachine-readable medium to be read and acted upon with a computer ormachine having the appropriate code/instructions reading capability.

Exemplary Network

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network 10 in which a system and amethod, consistent with the present invention, may be implemented. Thenetwork 10 may include multiple client devices 12 connected to multipleservers 14, 16, 18 via a network 20. The network 20 may include a localarea network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a phone network, such asthe Public Switched Phone Network (PSTN), an intranet, the Internet,Wi-Fi, WiMAX or a combination thereof. Two client devices 12 and threeservers 14, 16, 18 have been illustrated as connected to network 20 forsimplicity. In practice, there may be more or less client devices andservers 14, 16, 18. Also, in some instances, a client 12 device mayperform the functions of a server 14, 16, 18 and a server 14, 16, 18 mayperform the functions of a client 12 device.

The client devices 12 may include devices such as mainframes,minicomputers, personal computers, laptops, personal digital assistants,phones, or the like, capable of connecting to the network 20. The clientdevices 12 may transmit data over the network 20 or receive data fromthe network 20 via a wired, wireless, or optical connection.

The servers 14-18 may include one or more types of computer systems,such as a mainframe, minicomputer, or personal computer, capable ofconnecting to the network 20 to enable servers 14-18 to communicate withthe client devices 12. In alternative implementations, the servers 14-18may include mechanisms for directly connecting to one or more clientdevices 12. The servers 14-18 may transmit data over the network 20 orreceive data from the network 20 via a wired, wireless, or opticalconnection.

In an implementation consistent with the present inventionillustratively embodied herein, the servers 14-18 may include a searchengine 22 usable by the client devices 12. The servers 14-18 may storedocuments 200, such as web pages, accessible by the client devices 12.

With reference to FIG. 2, a network 20 includes the content cloud 30, acontent database 32, content devices 34-38, and other devices 40-48. Thenetwork mediator 28 enables network devices 34-48 to communicate witheach other without pre-configuring each device 34-48. The content cloud30 represents a content source such as the Internet, where contentexists at various locations across the globe that could be reachedthrough a wired connection and/or with a wireless connection provided byan antenna 26. The content includes multimedia content such as audio andvideo. The mediator 28 allows the content cloud to provide content todevices 34-48. The database 32 is a storage device 166 that maintainscontent. The database 32 may be a standalone device on an externalcommunication network. The mediator 28 communicates with the database 32to access and retrieve content. The content devices 34-48 includeintelligent devices, such as, for example, personal computers, laptops,cell phones and personal digital assistants. The content devices 34-48are capable or storing content data. The devices 34-48 are intelligentdevices that receive content from other content devices 30-48. However,the devices 34-48 can also operate as servers to distribute content toother client devices if desirable.

Exemplary Client Architecture

The following discussion provides a brief, general description of anexemplary computer apparatus in which at least some aspects of thepresent invention may be implemented. The present invention will bedescribed in the general context of computer-executable instructions,such as program modules 174 being executed by a computerized device.However, methods of the present invention may be affected by otherapparatuses. Program modules may include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, applets, WEB 2.0 type of evolved networkedcentered applications, etc. that perform a task(s) or implementparticular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art willappreciate that at least some aspects of the present invention may beimplemented with other configurations, including hand-held devices,multiprocessor system, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, network computers, minicomputers, set top boxes, mainframecomputers, gaming consoles and the like. At least some aspects of thepresent invention may also be carried out in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing deviceslinked through a communications network as exemplified in FIG. 2. In adistributed computing environment, program modules 174 may be located inlocal and/or remote memory storage devices 166.

With reference to FIG. 3, an exemplary apparatus 100 for implementing atleast some aspects of the present invention includes a general-purposecomputing device in the form of a computer 120 or in the form of acomputerized portable apparatus. The computer 120 may include aprocessing unit 121, a system memory 122, and a system bus 123 thatcouples various system components, including the system memory 122, tothe processing unit 121. The system bus 123 may be any of several typesof bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, aperipheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of busarchitectures. The system memory may include read only memory (ROM) 124and/or random access memory (RAM) 125. A basic input/output system 126(BIOS), containing basic routines that help to transfer data betweenelements within the computer 120, such as during start-up, may be storedin ROM 124. The computer 120 may also include a hard disk drive 127 forreading from and writing to a hard disk, (not shown), a magnetic diskdrive 128 for reading from or writing to a (e.g., removable) magneticdisk 129, and an optical disk drive 130 for reading from or writing to aremovable (magneto) optical disk 131 such as a compact disk or other(magneto) optical media. The hard disk drive 127, magnetic disk drive128, and (magneto) optical disk drive 130 may be coupled with the systembus 123 by a hard disk drive interface 132, a magnetic disk driveinterface 133, and a (magneto) optical drive interface 134,respectively. The drives and their associated storage media providenon-volatile (or persistent) storage of machine-readable instructions,data structures, program modules 174 and other data for the computer120. Although the exemplary environment described herein employs a harddisk, a removable magnetic disk 129 and a removable optical disk 131,those skilled in the art will appreciate that other types of storagemedia, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital videodisks, Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read onlymemories (ROM), remote cloud storage and the like, may be used insteadof, or in addition to, the storage devices 166 introduced above.

A number of program modules 174 may be stored on the hard disk 127,magnetic disk 129, (magneto) optical disk 131, ROM 124 or RAM 125, suchas an operating system 135 (for example, Windows® NT® 4.0, sold byMicrosoft® Corporation of Redmond, Wash.), one or more applicationprograms 136, other program modules 137 (such as Alice™, which is aresearch system developed by the User Interface Group at Carnegie MellonUniversity available at www.Alice.org, OpenGL® from Silicon GraphicsInc. of Mountain View Calif., or Direct 3D from Microsoft Corp. ofBellevue Wash.), and/or program data 138 for example.

A user may enter commands and data into the computer 120 through inputdevices, such as a keyboard 140, a camera 141 and a pointing device 142Other input devices (not shown) such as a microphone, joystick, gamepad, satellite dish, scanner, a touch sensitive screen, accelerometersor a motion-sensor detector such as KINECT™ that are adapted to sensemovements of the user or movements of a device, or the like, may also beincluded. These and other input devices are often connected to theprocessing unit 121 through a serial port interface 146 coupled to thesystem bus 123. However, input devices may be connected by otherinterfaces, such as a parallel port, a game port, blue tooth connectionor a universal serial bus (USB). For example, since the bandwidth of thecamera 141 may be too great for the serial port, the video camera 141may be coupled with the system bus 123 via a video capture card (notshown). The video monitor 147 or other type of display device 150 mayalso be connected to the system bus 123 via an interface, such as avideo adapter 148 for example. The video adapter 148 may include agraphics accelerator. One or more speakers 162 may be connected to thesystem bus 123 via a sound card 161 (e.g., a wave table synthesizer suchas product number AWE64 Gold Card from Creative® Labs of Milpitas,Calif.). In addition to the monitor 147 and speaker(s) 162, the computer120 may include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as aprinter, a hi-definition television and a scanner for example. As analternative or an addition to the video monitor 147, a stereo videooutput device, such as a head mounted display or LCD shutter glasses forexample, could be used.

The computer 120 may operate in a networked environment defining logicalconnections to one or more remote computers 120, such as a remotecomputer 149. The remote computer 149 may be another computer 120, aserver 14-18, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other commonnetwork node, and may include many or all of the elements describedabove relative to the computer 120. The logical connections depicted inFIG. 3 include a local area network (LAN) 151 and a wide area network(WAN) 152, an intranet and the Internet.

When used in a LAN, the computer 120 may be connected to the LAN 151through a network interface adapter (or “NIC”) 153. When used in a WAN,such as the Internet, the computer 120 may include a modem 154 or othermeans for establishing communications over the wide area network 152(e.g. Wi-Fi, WinMax). The modem 154, which may be internal or external,may be connected to the system bus 123 via the serial port interface 146or another type of port interface. In a networked environment, at leastsome of the program modules depicted relative to the computer 120 may bestored in the remote memory storage device 166. The network connectionsshown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communicationslink between the computers 120 may be used.

The exemplary network and the exemplary computer system described aboveare adapted to carry on the following embodiments:

The System

A system 170 is depicted in FIG. 4 which may represent thefunctionalities described in the instant application when run on anapparatus 100, for instance a computer 120, such as has been previouslydescribed. The computer 120 may in turn be connected to a server 14-18comprising a set of program modules 174 enabling functions including butnot limited to: computing, document rendering, network communication,application configuration and local database management.

The software system 170 illustratively consists of a collection of atleast twelve modules 174 independent from those of the server 14-18 thattogether carry out the method required for the functionalities to bevisible on a graphical user interface and usable by the user. Asillustrated, additional modules 226 may also be used in conjunction withthe twelve base modules.

A computing module 178 provides a means to circulate data between users,the other modules 174 and the apparatus 100. The computing module 178 isadapted to convert queries 230, which may be system-based or user-based,into graphical rendering in accordance with at least one embodiment ofthe present invention. The other modules 174 are configured to send toand receive data from the computing module and to individually orcollectively interact with other modules 174.

An application configuration module 182 provides software configurationto manage application settings and open connections to other servers14-18. Other modules 174 may use the application configuration module182 to manage their behavior to satisfy user-specific needs.

A data elements management module 186 may be used in conjunction withother modules to manage data elements such as documents 200 contained ina database 32 in response to a query 230. The data elements managementmodule 186 may use any kind of database connection and may use a networkcommunication module 190 in order to access a database 32 through anetwork 28, on a server computer 14-18. The network communication module190 may use several protocols in order to communicate with a servercomputer 14-18, such as IPv4, IPv6, TCP, UDP, ODBC, HTTP, WebDAV, SSH,IMAP and even define its own specific communication protocol. The dataelements management module 186 may also be used in conjunction with anemail connectivity module 194 and network communication module 190 inorder to treat and represent emails in the same way as the data elementsof a database 32. The data elements management module 186 may also beused in conjunction with the permissions module 198 (on the client orserver side) in order to control the user access to elements based bysome sort of sharing rules. The data elements management module 186 mayalso work in conjunction with a caches module 202, providing client-sidecached versions of the database 32 and files in order to respond tofuture requests faster. Modules 174 may be made to communicateinformation in a standardized way by the use of an ApplicationProgramming Interface (API) in order to simplify the data elementsmanagement module's 186 interactions with other modules 174.

The data elements management module 186 may sort through documents 200stored in the database 32 and connected to each other via a variety ofreferencing modes, may apply a filter as specified in a query 230 andmay subsequently direct the filtered documents 200 to other modules 174(this will be shown in FIG. 6). One such module may be an axis-orderingmodule 206 which may distribute documents 200 filtered by the dataelements management module 186 onto an axis-like array 288 or axis 292(illustrated in FIG. 6) according to a collation function that may beuser- or system-specified and analyzed by the computing module 178. Anaxis 292 or axis-like array 288 is an embodiment of graphical renderingof the functionalities described in the present specification on adevice's display 150 that can be embodied as a substantially rectilinearsequence of documents 200 from which a viewer can infer meaning and/orrelationships therebetween. An axial distribution 292 of documents 200is adapted to accommodate and display a single type of documents 200 or,if desirable, more than one type of documents 200, computer files,multimedia contents, user-selectable elements and/or user-selectablemenu elements. Generally, an axis 292 is used to graphically groupinformation elements 200 having a commonality. Other functionalitiesrelated to axes 292 shall be described in greater detail below.

The axis-ordering module 206 may manage the ordering of single documents200 and/or several documents 200 assembled into document sets 220 ontoone or more axes 292. In addition of managing the collation of documents200 onto an axis 292, the axis-ordering module 206 may also manage theorder of the documents 200 contained within secondary documents sets 232(not illustrated). The positioning module 210 manages the positioning ofdocuments 200 within axes 240 based on interactions with other modules174 processing the various elements contained in a query 230. Thepositioning module 210 is adapted to and may interpret data contained indocument sets 228 generated by the data elements management module 186in relationship to the query 230 to identify a location for a givendocument set 228 within the collation of an axis 292. Likewise, avisually distinctive features management module 214 is adapted tointerpret data contained in documents 200 or document sets 228 generatedby the data elements management module 186 in relationship to the query230 to selectively apply one or more visually distinctive features 284(not illustrated in this figure) to single documents 200 or documentsets 228. Finally, a display management module 218 may, inter alia,manage elements related to the user interface 234, possibly interactingwith a graphics card and a monitor 147. The display management module218 may use a document-rendering module 222 that provides instructionsto render specific documents 200, like images, text files,word-processing files, spreadsheet files, presentation files, etc. Thedocument-rendering module 222 may also provide an API to let developersadd their own extensions to deliver to renderers other document types.

FIG. 5 depicts a computer system 120 comprising an operating system 135with an integrated axis-based user interface 238. As illustrated in FIG.5, the axis-based user interface 238 could serve as a desktopenvironment to manipulate documents 200 (such as files, objects andapplications), or could be used as a main operating system 135 userinterface 234. One can appreciate a hierarchical description of acomputer system 120 and software system 170 with multiple components242. First, hardware 246 is used to provide users with a physical device34-48. Second, the axis-based system could be built on top of anexisting operating system core and kernel 250, such as, for instance,Unix™ or BSD™. A graphics API 254 like OpenGL® could also be used inorder to provide basic graphical capabilities to the system via a videoadapter 148.

Multiple core functionalities could be integrated to provide coreoperating system 135 services. A graphical layer framework component 256could be built over the graphics API component 254, and could be used toprovide complex drawing capabilities. The layer-based graphics layerframework component 256 may also support widget rendering and handling(like buttons, text fields, dialogs, etc.) A network managementcomponent 260 could be based on pre-existing network managementcapabilities in the operating system core and kernel 250. It could serveas a tool to manage an Internet network connection through Ethernet,Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Modem and other communication channels. A utilitycomponent 264 could handle all the other services needed to communicatewith the operating system core and kernel 250, providing functionalitiessuch as user login, user authentication, memory, disk-access management,etc. Using these modules, the axis-based user interface 238 would usecore functionalities from the graphical layer framework component 256,the network management component 260 and the utility component 264 toprovide workspaces 306 comprising multiple axes 292 that displaydocuments 200 (not shown in FIG. 5). The axis-based user interface 238may also provide more integrated actions, like interface buttons,preview or magnification that may be directly docketed. Anothercomponent, a system preferences management component 268 would providemultiple functions needed by the axis-based user interface 238, such asdialogs to manage document insertion, attribute definitions, users,permissions, application configuration, etc. Finally, the operatingsystem 135 may comprise a window management system emulation module 272.This module may be based on an X Window System or X11© and may use otherexisting client application libraries to provide a large number ofapplications as well as functionalities to run windowed applications ontop of the axis-based user interface 238. To provide otherfunctionalities, third-party application providers could buildthird-party core modules 276 on top of the axis-based user interface 238and system preferences management module 268. Third-party applicationproviders could also develop third-party software environments 280 andother applications that could be run using the window management systememulation 272, providing the user with useful applications such as anInternet Browser, Office Business Applications, Multimedia Applications,Games, etc.

The Window Management System Emulation 272 could also offer functions toprovide a more axis-based user interface 238 integration, such as,previews, player and editors for the documents 200 displayed in theaxis-based user interface 238. For example, a rich text document 200could use a third-party module 276 or third-party software environment280 to provide a previewer or media player for the document 200, or athird-party application to integrate a live editor on the axis-baseduser interface 238.

This computer system 120 could be used, for instance, as a businesssolution to provide users with an axis-based user interface 238operating system 135 directly on multiple kinds of devices 34-48(computers, laptop, tablets, cell phones, etc.). The computer system 120may also illustratively be used as a business solution to sellpreconfigured devices 34-48 with the axis-based user interface 284.Since the operating system 135 has a built-in axis-based user interface284, the device 34-48 is likely to have a display 150 and other inputdevices like a keyboard 140, a mouse 142 or a touch-screen interface.The devices 34-48 may not necessarily provide such parts and may beadapted to be used by communicating information about the user interface240 and input methods with other devices 34-48 (television set, motionsensing input device, computer or tablet over network, cell phone, etc.)

The Interface

FIG. 6 illustrates the interaction of the computer system 120 andsoftware system 170 with an axis-based graphical user interface 238. Aninterface program providing a graphical user interface 234 for managinginformation elements 200 in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention is installed on a machine, e.g. a computer system 120 asillustrated in FIG. 3. The interface 234 can be programmed using variousprogramming languages e.g. C++, Java or other suitable programminglanguages. The programming of these languages is well known in the artand is adapted to be stored on a machine-readable medium and readabletherefrom to provide executable instructions to a hardware system. It isbelieved that a skilled reader in software art is going to recognizethis portion of the system that will, therefore, not be furtherdescribed herein.

The graphical user interface 234 may run through the operating system135 and the hardware 246 of the computer system 120 or, alternatively,through a network-based system e.g. client-server, and/cloud computingsystem as exemplified in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. The interface 234 is adaptedto display and manage information elements 200, generally provided on abasis of a query 230, which may be stored in one or many databases 32(as illustrated in FIG. 6) that might be distributed in a combination oflocations (e.g. multiple databases, web, cloud, etc.). Informationelements 200 may include computer files, pictures, multimedia content,applications (i.e. computer programs), menu elements, sets of iconsand/or other user-selectable elements, all of which shall henceforth beindiscriminately referred to as documents 200 to lighten the textwithout limiting the scope of the present invention.

An axis-based graphical interface 238 is adapted to graphicallystructure documents 200 in arrays 288 that arrange the documents 200 inrows and/or columns in a reasonably regular fashion and to allownavigation thereof by the user further to a query 230. The axis-basedlayout and ordering provide the user with information about the contentof each document 200, its meaning and its relationships to the otherdocuments 200 disposed on the axis 292. Navigation tools are providedwith the axis-based user interface 238 to allow navigation through thedocuments 200 of a single axis 292 and of various axes 292 when aplurality of axes 292 is enabled. The display of documents 200 on anarray 288, or axis 292, therefore allows contextual management ofdocuments 200 as a flow, or an ongoing rational sequence of documents200. An axis-based interface 238 thus helps to intuitively display agroup of documents 200 and facilitate understanding and managing largesequences of documents 200 bearing a relation.

In a simplified exemplary form, an array 288 may be embodied as an axisof documents 292 (hereinbelow referred to as axis 292 to lighten thetext), which groups documents 200 in a single row or column, asillustrated in FIG. 6. An axis 292 can be embodied as a substantiallyrectilinear arrangement of documents 200 adapted to dispose eachdocument 200 on a straight or curved line. The axis 292 can be embodiedas completely straight (rectilinear), slightly curved, substantiallycurved, circular, angled, following a particular shape or have aconsistent shape over which documents 200 are disposed in a reasonablyconsistent fashion. The exact shape of the axis 292 as well as itsdisposition can vary—horizontal, vertical or other—in relation to thedevice's display 150. What matters, inter alia, is that the layoutstructure of an axis 292 provides a sequence of documents 200 from whicha viewer can infer meaning, logical connections, contextual location,and/or relationships.

The axis 292 can be represented as a single axis 292, a double axis 292,or more axes 292. Axes 292 may be independent from one another (usingdistinct scales, or orderings, henceforth referred to as collationfunctions 300) or may form a group of axes 310 by sharing the same scaleor collation function 300. Also, a document 200, attribute 296 or otherproperty of an element contained in an axis 292 can be selected and usedas a logical connector to create an additional axis 292 from an existingaxis 292. This subsidiary axis 294 is meant to be temporary in someembodiments, serving as a way to view a specific set of additionaldocuments 200 or highlight certain documents 200 from the original axis292 without having to alter the entire workspace 306. It may originatefrom the logical connector document 200 or information element 200 andbe disposed in non-parallel fashion thereto. The subsidiary axis's 294position is preferably orthogonal to the original axis 292. However, theangle may vary. Like axes 292, logically connected axes 294 may bescrollable. More such logically connected axes 2924 can subsequently becreated in the same fashion. Navigation among axes 292 and subsidiaryaxes 294 could be called “relational navigation”.

Axes 292 may be disposed horizontally and/or vertically. Groups of axes310 may be presented using one of the layouts or combining both. Theaxes 292 presented in the embodiments below are generally illustrated inthe horizontal layout configuration. However, they could, all or inmajority, be disposed vertically without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure. Other possible graphical layouts of documents 200might become obvious to a skilled reader in light of the presentapplication and would be considered within the scope of thisapplication.

When only a portion of the axis 292 is visible, a play of zoom, pan andscrolling movements along the axis 292 allows a user to navigate theaxis 292 and change the series of documents 200 that are displayed inthe display area 314 of the display 150. Scrolling movements can beperformed in a variety of ways including but not limited toclick-and-drag, pressing on the keys of a keyboard, gesturing to amotion-sensor or on a touch-screen.

Documents 200 might overlap or decrease in size so as to fit or maximizethe space available in the display area 314. Selected documents 200 onan axis 292 can be magnified to increase the level of detail shown.Similarly, a small display area 314 could display only one document 200out of the entire axis 292. The remaining documents 200 would not beshown in the display area 314 but would yet remain at their respective“virtual” position on the axis 292, ready to be displayed upon scrollingthe axis 292. In other words, if we consider a mobile platform like amobile phone having a small display 150, the small display 150 mightonly allow to efficiently exhibit one document 200 at a time. However,given that the displayed document 200 is part of an axis 292, the otherdocuments 200 on the axis 292 would remain displayable in accordancewith their respective position on the axis 292 when the axis isscrolled, navigated, gestured.

The documents 200 are selected to be disposed on the axis 292 on thebasis of one or more attributes 296, and are ordered thereon accordingto a collation function 300, namely an ordered arrangement made bycomparison, (e.g. a chronological order adapted to use a time scale 318.The attribute(s) and collation function parameters are specified in aquery 230 that may be run by a user or by an automated function of thesystem. Indeed, each axis 292 groups documents 200 in accordance with,for example, a selected tag, category, keyword, document creator, orother attribute 296 that expresses a characterization of one or moredocument(s) 200 and that are configurable to represent intrinsic orextrinsic characteristics. The term “attribute” 296 will generally beused throughout the instant specification to lighten the reading of thetext and will encompass other document properties or means forestablishing commonality or relationships as described above unlessotherwise specified.

Attributes 296 may be user-specified or system-specified. Generally,documents 200 bear a plurality of attributes 296 assigned by one or moreuser(s) (e.g. keyword, subject, project, creator, category, etc.), and aplurality of attributes 296 that are assigned by the system, such as,illustratively, file type, time of creation, number of views, time oflast modification, file size, etc. Given the broad range ofapplicability of the present invention, the attributes 296 that may beassigned by the system and user, as well as the attributes 296 that canbe desirable to use in the management of axes 292 might substantiallyvary from one field or user to another and however remain within thescope of present specification.

The selection of one or more attributes 296 (using Boolean logic forinstance) in a query 230 determines which documents 200 will bedisplayed on the axis 292. If no specific attribute 296 is selected, theaxis 292 will display all documents 200 in a default order, like thedate of creation thereof. Thus, all documents 200 on the same axis 292are normally associated with the selected set or combination ofattributes 296 that are used as parameters for the axis 292. Third-partydata, like publicity or user-targeted information, could also be addedto an axis 292, either arbitrarily or according to user information,filtering and/or existing collation of axes 292 without departing fromthe scope of the present invention.

The documents 200 illustrated in FIG. 6 feature attributes 296individually represented by a capital letter thereon, or none, in whichcase the documents 200 are left blank. Letter attributes 296 are used inthe present application for illustrative purposes only while letterattributes are theoretically possible. More descriptive attributes 296such as those described above are used in embodiments of the presentinvention. As is shown in FIG. 6, any document 200 can simultaneouslyfeature multiple attributes 296, some user-specified and otherssystem-specified. In fact, a preferred embodiment of the inventionassigns a plurality of attributes 296 to every document 200. Otherdocuments 200 illustrated on FIG. 6 are blank, or without any associatedattribute 296, illustrating documents that could theoretically not beassigned any attribute 296, but that could nonetheless be created andfound in a query 230 (e.g. a query 230 that would select all documents200 contained in the database 32).

The query 230 in FIG. 6 here illustratively filters and selectsdocuments 200 from the database 32 based on attribute 296 ‘A’ fordisplay on the axis 292. FIG. 6 further illustrates that the documents200 selected from the database 32 by the query 230 are placed on theaxis 292 in chronological order 318, another parameter that could bespecified in the query 230. Indeed, an axis 292 also generally disposesthe documents 200 resulting from the query 230 in accordance with aspecified order or collation function 300, (e.g. chronological order,alphabetical order, statistical order, increasing file size, etc.). Acollation function 300 might include dividing the axis 292 intosuccessive collation units 304 (e.g. time units 322 in the case of achronological order, which can illustratively be hours, days, months,years, etc.). A collation function 300 would thus dispose each document200 along the axis 292 according to the value of a specified attribute296 in relation to the collation units 304 of the axis 292 and the otherdocuments 200 of the selected document set 228. Among collationfunctions 300, a chronological distribution of documents 200 on a timescale 318 is used in most embodiments of our work because of itsintuitiveness (because any action or event takes place at a specifictime and usually in sequence with other events or actions). While anaxis 292 disposing documents in random fashion is also contemplatedwithin the scope of the present specification, axes 292 disposingdocuments 200 according to a collation function 300 are illustratedembodiments because of the usefulness of ordering documents 200.

An axis 292 or a group of axes 310 may be embodied in a linearconfiguration 326 or a non-linear configuration 330. Both configurationsare illustrated in FIG. 7 in a generic example. As can be appreciatedfrom FIG. 7, a linear configuration 326 displays collation units 304 ofthe same graphical longitudinal size regardless of the number ofdocuments 200 contained in each collation unit 304. The size of thedocuments 200 located within a given collation unit 304 can optionallybe adjusted in accordance with the number of documents 200 locatedtherein. For instance, documents 200 will be larger if there are fewdocuments 200 in the collation unit 304 and smaller if many documents200 are found therein. Alternatively, the documents 200 can remain thesame size and can overlap, or be stacked, when their quantity exceedsthe available space. Another possible way of making large numbers ofdocuments 200 fit into a fixed-size collation unit 304 is to equip thecollation unit 304 with a scroll bar allowing the user to navigate thecollation unit 304 to reveal hidden documents 200. This also means thatdocuments 200 in a linear configuration 326 may be displayed as anuneven sequence from a graphical point of view. Ultimately, a collationunit 304 in a linear configuration containing no document will appear asempty, or as a blank space on the display 150, but will still be thesame size as the other collation units 304 of the axis 292.

Conversely, the non-linear configuration 330 displays collation units304 of uneven longitudinal sizes because an even distribution ofdocuments 200 along the axis 292 prevails over the linearity of thecollation. In other words, document 200 size and a constant flow ofdocuments 200 along the axis 292 are given primacy over having collationunits 304 of equal graphical size. This provides a more efficient use ofthe space on the axes 292, but may provide less meaning to illustrate anevolution along time.

Turning now to FIG. 8 illustrating an exemplary spreadsheet-likelisting, or table 350, of information related to sequential steps of aworkflow 354. Each step 354 provides a series of columns 358 adapted toprovide a specific type of information related to a step 362 of theworkflow 354. In the embodiment of FIG. 9, the pointing device 142 isused to select workflow step #3 thus enabling the creation of a space366 below workflow step #3. The space 366 is located below the selectedstep #3 and could alternatively be located above step #3, above thetable 350, below the table 350 or elsewhere about the table 350. Apreferred embodiment is presenting a close relationship between theselected step #3 and the array or axis 292 of documents 200, asillustrated in FIG. 10, because of the direct graphical relation betweenthe selected workflow step #3 and documents 200 associated therewith.The rectilinear shape of the axis 292 is well suited to fit in alongitudinal space 366 created between two rows representing steps of aworkflow. This ensures a strong graphical meaning for a viewer who wantsto appreciate the documents 200 associated with a desired workflow step.The illustrative example of the axis 292 in FIG. 10 shows twelve (12)documents 200 associated with step #3. Conversely, a smaller and alarger number of documents 200 could be presented on the axis 292 ifneeded. In the event a larger number of documents 200 have to bedisplayed for the available width allowed for displaying the axis 292,user-actuable navigation elements 370 are displayed on each side of theaxis 292.

A simplified table 350 is illustrated in FIGS. 11 through FIG. 33 tofocus on the illustrative steps of the workflow 354. It can beappreciated from FIG. 13 that two distinct collation functions 300 areused; one for the sequential steps of the workflow 354 and the other foran illustrative chronological arrangement of the documents 200 of theaxis 292. The collation functions could be different or similar withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. FIG. 14 illustratesthat a selection of the workflow entry 1, while it is expanded todisplay an axis of documents 200 associated thereof, is removing theaxis 292 and closing 374 the space 366. It has to be noted that avisually distinctive feature, in the present situation the text is putin bold, is applied to the selected workflow entry #1 (WF#1) to ensure aviewer appreciate clearly which WF entry is associated with thedisplayed axis 292. The WF entry can serve as an axis header to properlyidentify each axis 292.

Turning to FIG. 15, an additional document 378 is displayed on the axis292. It is the last document 200 in time to be associated with WF#1 andis thus located on the extreme right of the axis 292 thus reflecting thechronological collation function 300 of the axis 292. The navigationelement 370 on the right is now in bold to indicate another document200, not displayed, can be displayed if the axis 292 is furthernavigated 386 on the right side. WF#2 is selected by a user and WF#1 isclosed while WF#2 is expanded to display an axis 292 of documents 200displaying documents 200 related to the expanded WF#2. While the axis292 is displayed, a new document 200, 390 is automatically displayed byscrolling the existing documents 200 to the left as shown in FIG. 17.The new document 390 is visually distinctive with a bold frame tofurther identify it is new.

FIG. 18 through FIG. 21 are illustrating another embodiment where theaxis 292 displays a continuity of documents 200 of a plurality of WFentries to further provide to a viewer a perspective of the documents200 found before and after a selected WF entry. As shown in FIG. 19, thethree (3) documents 200, 394 associated with WF#3 are displayed with abold frame associated with the bold text used for identifying WF#3. Thefour documents 200 before are associated with WF#1 and the seven (7),after, of which only five (5) are displayed, are found after, to theright of the axis of documents 292. Further graphical discrimination canbe applied to both the WF entries and the documents 200 respectivelyassociated therewith without departing from the scope of the presentinvention as illustrated in FIG. 20. FIG. 21 illustrate an embodimentwhere only three (3) documents are present along the axis 292 thusfitting within the width of the WF entries identification. FIG. 22illustrate a further embodiment where two WF entries are expanded tosimultaneously display corresponding axes 292 of documents 200. Anynumber of simultaneously displayed axes 292 can be used if desired.

FIG. 23 through FIG. 25 illustrate another embodiment where the axis 292is vertically disposed—or disposed parallel with the identification ofthe plurality of WF entries. Similar functions and features, aspresented before in respect with horizontal (orthogonal) axis ofdocuments 292, can be appreciated by a skilled reader. The skilledreader can contemplate an additional separator 398 separating documentsrelated to different WF entries. Moving now to FIG. 26 illustrating enembodiment where the documents 200 of each expanded WF entries aredisposed vertically between two WF entries. FIG. 27 further distinguisheach WF entry in distinct WF sub-entries 406, namely, for instance,events and tasks. A WF entry can have a plurality of WF sub-entries 406.An expanded WF entry can expand all its WF sub-entries 406, asillustrated in FIG. 28, or selectively expand one, some, at will, WFsub-entries 406. An expander 402 can be used to expand or contract a WFentry and/or sub-entries 406, by a simple selection thereof, forinstance, and also be used to visually appreciate the expansion state ofWF entries and sub-entries 406.

Turning now to FIG. 29 that illustrates an exemplary embodiment where aWF entry is using attributes 296 adapted to be associated with documents200 associated with the WF entry 354 to further classify the documents.In the present example, Attributes A, B and C are used to furtherclassify the documents 200 associated with WF#2. In the illustratedexample, an expansion of three distinct axes 292.1, 292.2 and 292.3 isprovided and the three axes are displayed (could be less). This allowsan even better sorting and displaying of documents 200 associated with aWF entry and could be configured with more attributes 296. With anaction all the three axes 292.1, 292.2 and 292.3 could be merged into asingle axis 292 (not illustrated) and vice-versa. Other possibleattributes 296 could be used to further discriminate the documents 200displayed on the axes 292 as it is depicted in FIG. 30 where theattribute “urgent” is associated with a bold frame applied to thedocuments 200 on the axes 292. This way a viewer can easily appreciatemany additional information in a glance. Other variations of how to useattributes 296 in conjunction with the documents 200 and the axes 292are contemplate by the present application. FIG. 31 further depictsanother embodiment using collation units 304 along the axes 292.1, 292.2and 292.3. Each axis 292.1, 292.2 and 292.3 can be selectively hidden tomanage the viewing area available to a user.

The WF entries have been described above as a means to display documents200 associated with each WF entry 354. In accordance with anotherembodiment of the present invention, the WF entries 354 can be used toassociate (add) documents 200 to a selected WF entry 354. In otherwords, the WF entries 354 can be used as an interaction tool 410 adaptedto provide at least one, preferably many, proposed preset collections ofattributes where to drag (for instance) documents 200 thereon toassociate the dragged documents 200 with a WF entry and the attributes296 associated therewith. The documents 200 to associate to a WF entrycan be dragged on the corresponding WF entry or can be associated byother means like a contextual menu or a predetermined set of selectionfrom a user. The interaction tool 410 is thus a tool adapted to receivedocuments 200 and also to display documents 200 as it has beenextensively described above. The interaction tool 410 of an embodimentof the invention is a unified tool adapted to offer a simplified way toadd (FIG. 32) and retrieve (FIG. 33) documents 200 from (FIG. 32) andfor a user to see (FIG. 33). In the present example illustrated in FIG.32 and FIG. 33, three documents D7-D9 are added to WF#5 and are laterdisplayed along the axis 292 associated with WF#5 and identified in boldsince they are newly added.

FIG. 34 illustrates one of the two roles of the interaction tool 410.The interaction tool 410 further proposes a function to add 418 aninformation element 200 in the interaction tool 410 and close 422 theinteraction tool 410. The second role of the interaction tool is toprovide a way to open axes 292. FIG. 35 depicts a plurality ofconfigurations, positions and docking of the interaction tool 410 thatcan optionally be expanded and contracted 414 at will. FIG. 36 and FIG.37 depict a collapsible interaction tool 410 that can be moved on adisplay 314 to fit a user's need. Elements 200 from the interaction tool410 are embodied to be selected with a check box to display respectiveaxes 292 of documents 200 in FIG. 38. In this embodiment, the axes 292are laterally expanding 430 from the interaction tool 410 and remainconnected to the interaction tool 410 to ensure a graphical relationshipwith their respective interaction element 426.

FIG. 39 depicts different configurations of interaction tool 410.1(matter number), 410.2 (dates), 410.3 (Workspace entries). Selections ofinteraction elements 426 can be distinctively displayed along with asimilar graphical distinction (for instance a bold frame) applied to theassociated axes 292. FIG. 40 shows an embodiment where expanded axes 292from one interaction tool 410.1 may cause the other interaction tools410.2 and 410.3 to collapse.

FIG. 41 illustrates an interaction tool 410 vertically connected withits associated axis 292 although the axis 292 passes under theinteraction tool 410 and is laterally scrollable. Further, in FIG. 41,the selection of different interaction elements 426 is used as a basisto construct a logical query 434 used to determine which elements 200should be displayed on the axis 292 on a basis of a combination of theattributes 296. Note different graphical discriminators applied to theinteraction elements 426 are mixed in FIG. 41.

FIG. 42 depicts displaying a predefined workspace 306 of axes 292 uponselection of an interaction element 426 (WS 4). FIG. 43 illustrate afurther graphical relation between the selected interaction element 426WS 5 and its associated workspace 306.

Another embodied graphical relationship between the axes 292 and theiroriginating interaction element 426 is illustrated in FIG. 44 and FIG.45 where axes 292 are graphically expanding from the interaction tool410. FIG. 46 provides an example of a further identification of new (orunseen) documents 200 identified by a “N” and a bold frame along thedisplayed axes 292. Furthermore in FIG. 46, the elements in interactiontool 410 shows the total number of new (or unseen) documents 200.

The order of selection of interaction elements 426 can be used todetermine the order in which each axis 292 is located and displayed.FIG. 47 illustrates an example where interaction element 426 “D” isfirstly selected before interaction element 426 “A”. Axis 292 “A” ismoved lower to leave room for displaying axis 292 “D” moved 438 above.This provides a chronological display of the axes 292 “D” and “A” asdepicted in FIG. 48. Another example of axes 292 ordering in respectwith a collation function (chronological in this example) can beappreciated from FIG. 49 and FIG. 50 where the axes are “piled” inaccordance with their collation order (order about which the interactionelements 426 are selected).

FIG. 51 illustrate a multi-faces interaction tool 410 adapted to displayvarious types of interaction elements 426. Thus allowing to provides awider array of interaction elements choices to a user using a limitedamount of space on a display 314. Finally, FIG. 52 and FIG. 53 areillustrating exemplary flow charts that are self described andrepresentative of exemplary embodiments further discussed above.

The description and the drawings that are presented above are meant tobe illustrative of the present invention. They are not meant to belimiting of the scope of the present invention. Modifications to theembodiments described may be made without departing from the presentinvention, the scope of which is defined by the following claims:

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of displaying on adisplay, for selective viewing by a user, axes of computer-readableelements associated with an interaction tool, the method comprising: (a)displaying on a display of a computer system, for view by a user, aninteraction tool comprising a plurality of GUI elements eachrepresenting an axis of computer-readable elements; and (b) uponreceiving user input representing a selection of one of the plurality ofdisplayed GUI elements for displaying an axis of computer-readableelements associated with the selected GUI element, further displaying,in an area of the display located adjacent and in a directionsubstantially orthogonal to a direction along which the ordered GUIelements are displayed for abutting the selected GUI element.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least some of thecomputer-readable elements are user-selectable.
 3. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising dragging acomputer-readable element on one of the plurality of GUI elements; andadding the computer-readable element on the axis of elements representedby the one of the plurality of GUI elements.
 4. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein a plurality of GUI elements is selectable forconcurrently displaying associated axes of computer-readable elements onthe display.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, whereincomputer-readable elements associated with the selected GUI element andlocated on a portion of the axis of computer-readable elements that isnot displayed are displayable by scrolling along the axis ofcomputer-readable elements.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein the computer-readable elements associated with the selectedGUI element and displayed on the axis of computer-readable elements arechronologically ordered along a timeline.
 7. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 6, wherein the timeline can use one a linear timescale,displaying computer-readable elements where units of time aregraphically represented using a similar length along the axis ofcomputer-readable elements, and a non-linear timescale, displayingcomputer-readable elements where units of time are graphicallyrepresented using non-similar lengths along the axis ofcomputer-readable elements.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein displayed computer-readable elements of a displayed axis ofcomputer-readable elements are disposed in a substantially rectilinearfashion along the axis of computer-readable elements.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computer-readableelements of an axis of computer-readable elements are associated with acommon attribute.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further comprising receiving user input representing an instruction froma user for hiding the displayed axis of computer-readable elements; andhiding the displayed axis of computer-readable elements.
 11. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereoncomputer-executable instructions that, then executed by a processor of acomputer system, provide a computer-implemented method of displaying ona display, for selective viewing by a user, axes of computer-readableelements associated with an interaction tool, the method comprising: (a)displaying on a display of a computer system, for view by a user, aninteraction tool comprising a plurality of GUI elements eachrepresenting an axis of computer-readable elements; and (b) uponreceiving user input representing a selection of one of the plurality ofdisplayed GUI elements for displaying an axis of computer-readableelements associated with the selected GUI element, further displaying,in an area of the display located adjacent and in a directionsubstantially orthogonal to a direction along which the ordered GUIelements are displayed for abutting the selected GUI element.
 12. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein at leastsome of the computer-readable elements are user-selectable.
 13. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprisingdragging a computer-readable element on one of the plurality of GUIelements; and adding the computer-readable element on the axis ofelements represented by the one of the plurality of GUI elements. 14.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein aplurality of GUI elements is selectable for concurrently displayingassociated axes of computer-readable elements on the display.
 15. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, whereincomputer-readable elements associated with the selected GUI element andlocated on a portion of the axis of computer-readable elements that isnot displayed are displayable by scrolling along the axis ofcomputer-readable elements.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable elements associatedwith the selected GUI element and displayed on the axis ofcomputer-readable elements are chronologically ordered along a timeline.17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein thetimeline can use one a linear timescale, displaying computer-readableelements where units of time are graphically represented using a similarlength along the axis of computer-readable elements, and a non-lineartimescale, displaying computer-readable elements where units of time aregraphically represented using non-similar lengths along the axis ofcomputer-readable elements.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 11, wherein displayed computer-readable elements of adisplayed axis of computer-readable elements are disposed in asubstantially rectilinear fashion along the axis of computer-readableelements.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11,wherein the computer-readable elements of an axis of computer-readableelements are associated with a common attribute.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising receiving userinput representing an instruction from a user for hiding the displayedaxis of computer-readable elements; and hiding the displayed axis ofcomputer-readable elements.